Mayor Joseph L. Alioto, Esq

Born to Sicilian immigrants, Joseph L. Alioto
graduated from St. Mary's College in Moraga, California in 1937 and
from The Catholic University of America in 1940. Alioto worked for the
Antitrust Division of the Justice Department and then for the Board of
Economic Warfare in Washington D.C. He returned to San Francisco after
World War II and started his own legal practice specializing in
Antitrust law. Clients included Walt Disney, the Oakland Raiders and
Samuel Goldwyn, among others.
Along
with his successful legal practice, Alioto also served on the San
Francisco Board of Education from 1948 to 1954, and in the 1960s,
served as the chair of San Francisco's Redevelopment Agency. With his
success as a community leader, Alioto entered the San Francisco mayoral
race in 1967 and won. Alioto was inaugurated on January 8, 1968, served
a term, and was handily re-elected in 1971.

Joseph L.
Alioto is a pillar in San Francisco history as he presided over a time
of change in San Francisco. He ran on a platform of reducing taxes and
fighting crime, but is also recognized for his efforts in the
development of three major building projects, the Bay Area Rapid
Transit System (BART), the Transamerica Pyramid and the Embarcadero
Center. These efforts engendered opposition in the development stage
but were eventually built and transformed the quality of life and
skyline of San Francisco. Alioto also helped to bring more minorities
into city politics, launched a reform of the city charter, and mediated
protracted police and fire department strikes in 1975. Alioto’s
political influence also stretched beyond San Francisco when he
delivered the speech nominating Hubert Humphrey at the Democratic
National Convention in 1968.

Members of Alioto's family
are still deeply involved in San Francisco politics. Angela Alioto, his
daughter, served eight years as a member of the San Francisco Board of
Supervisors, two as its President. One of his granddaughters, Michela
Alioto-Pier, was appointed to the Board of Supervisors in 2003 by San
Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom and won reelection to the Board in 2004.
His grandson, Joseph Alioto Veronese is a prominent attorney in San
Francisco and was elected as the Municipal Utility District Director,
and has been a San Francisco Police Commissioner since 2004. Several of
his sons are prominent attorneys and businessmen in the San Francisco
Bay Area.